During the upcoming meeting of the AOAC International (International Association of Official Analytical Communities), on September 9th, 2014, experts of the Food Allergen Community will be seeking and providing updates on their latest accomplishments and current challenges in the area of food allergen management, method development and validation as well as capacity building initiatives.

I will use this opportunity to provide the community (remotely) with an update on our recent capacity building activities under the auspices of the Asia/Pacific Food Safety Cooperation Forum to support improved practices of food allergen management by industry and regulators.

I am embedding in this post, the introductory remarks I had the opportunity to make during the Food Allergen Methodologies Workshop, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in May 2014, co-organised by Health Canada’s Food Directorate and the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) of the University of Nebraska.

These remarks attempt to put in context these efforts of capacity building and the importance of our continued investment to promote knowledge transfer related to allergen management amongst food safety stakeholders.

No doubt you will be discussing the CFSAN/FALCPA guidance draft (exemptions) from May 2014. Aside, wondering though if AOAC currently has a method used by HC/CFIA to differentiate between ‘added’ and ‘naturally-occuring’ sugars in a complex food matrix…? 🙂